Journal of Critical Reviews

ISSN- 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 8, 2020

WOMEN COMPLEX
Duaa Essam Busharah1, Ahmed Refaat2, Koloud Momani3
1,2,3College
of Architecture and Design, Effat University, Qasr Khuzam St., Kilo.2, Old Mecca Road. P.O.BOX 34689,
Jeddah 21478, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: 1dbusharah@effatuniversity.edu.sa, 2arefaat@effatuniversity.edu.sa, 3kmoumani@effatuniversity.edu.sa

Received: 25.04.2020 Revised: 30.05.2020 Accepted: 20.06.2020

Abstract
Women’s in Saudi Arabia have big gaps in different aspects for example: health, education and entertainment. Therefore, the idea of this
project is to give all women’s from different ages and background knowledge and empowerment from different approach to be more
independent and to be the strongest version of them. Women complex is a place that encourage women’s from different backgrounds and
ages to exploded their useful power to be more noticed although, it’s a place that help them to be more independent by providing job
opportunity for them, increase their knowledge and at the same time they we will provide a childcare space to make them fell save while
they develop their selves. Therefore it’s a place where women’s can change their life to be more active and self-confident. The complex
offers different zones that can helped to achieve the required goals which are achievements health and beauty zone and educational
zone. This study covered some similar case studies that improve the design of this project. The site evaluation and site analysis were
conducted and an appropriate site is chosen to the project.

Keywords -- Women Complex, Health, Education, Entertainment, Knowledge

© 2020 by Advance Scientific Research. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31838/jcr.07.08.155

INTRODUCTION The center is an elegant and transparent building, carefully

Women value not only on how to treat them but also to
encourage them in terms of education [1, 2]. Although women
knowledge has a huge shortness in our community since there is
still some families who doesn’t agree with the concept of
education, employed and freedom in the country limits. In other
word, the community in KSA usually called women as Hurma
which is took from the word Forbidden [3]. They believe that
women place is only her house because they are weak and
unable to tack care about themself. In addition, most of the
community in KSA see the successful women as they break the
roles and limit but, they cannot recognize how women were
strong and successful since the past era [4]. Moreover, past era
not only illustrates women successful but it also shows how they
were knowledgeable about their educational and health aspects.
In the beginning of 20th century different centers was appear to
encourage women but it doesn’t includes all aspects of women
needs for example: Adult education and literacy center was only
focusing in minimizing literacy and encourage women to be more
educated [5, 6]. Therefore, Women Complex idea was to change
the pervious thoughts about women by encourage them to prove
themselves under these circumstances. This complex will be the
first complex which contains all these different zones together
which is achievement, education and health zones in order to
change women spirit to be more productive in the community.
CASE STUDIES
Case Studies improve the understanding of a complex projects
and it can extend experience or add strength to new projects.
This study considered three case studies from Canada, Rwanda
and Denmark. They are:
a. Sunset community center in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada
b. Women's Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda
c. House of Culture and Movement Frederiksberg, Denmark
Sunset Community Center In Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada
The Sunset Community Center is seen as a link between nature
and the surrounding vibrant multicultural community (Figure 1).
selected on the main passageway, so that the building is highly
visible and easy to access. The back and sides of the building are
the zones for outdoor activities and enjoy the spectacular
southern scenery, and are located between the fields,
greenhouses and planting beds of the adjacent Vancouver Park
plate site.
The sunset community center has preschool classes, gymnasium,
fitness room and many other community activities. These project
areas have obtained a unique form identity through the
undulating roof forms, which form from the use of excavated
materials to form a series of large rolling plants. The wood
repeatedly bends in the undulations of the building, giving the
gymnasium and other main rooms a certain shape, thus forming
a firm connection with the external landscape. Another good
thing about this project is it took the LEED gold certified and the
building has been tremendously popular and its membership
increased 40% in the first three months since opening [7].
Sunset Community Center inspires and anchors the community
with its strong formal image and engaging social space. The
design of the corridor is both a crossroad and a gateway. People
pass through the center to reach the elementary school or factory
nursery. At the same time, many community events were held in
preschools, gymnasiums, gyms and large multi-purpose venues,
making the building a major attraction for community members
[8].
Women's Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda
The Women’s Opportunity Center is a Rwandan school whose
purpose is to make women self-sufficient (Figure 2). The school
was commissioned by women, a non-profit humanitarian
organization based in Washington. In order to rebuild a country
suffering from genocide, they believe that the best way is to
educate and strengthen them at the grassroots level. The center
will become a permanent residence and meeting place for war
survivors as these survivors will learn new skills, including
craftsmanship and brick making. The center aims to rebuild
social infrastructure and restore cultural heritage [9].

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 WOMEN COMPLEX
When a woman graduates from the program, they will know how
to sell their goods, manage their business and promote local
economic development. The Women's Opportunity Center is
scheduled to be completed in 2012 and can provide services for
up to 300 people every year. The concept was awarded second
place in all categories of "Future Projects" at the 2011 World
Architecture Festival, and won first place in a sub-category of
future projects: Education [9].
House of Culture And Movement Frederiksberg, Denmark
The purpose of the House of Culture and Sports is to give the
people of Fredericksburg a healthy and active lifestyle (Figure 3).
The main goal of the House of Cultural Sports is to provide a
vibrant meeting place for the Flintholm community where people
of all ages can participate in various activities. Leisure and
education should be smoothly integrated to create spectacular
architecture, health, and cultural experiences, and will become
destinations [10].
The space in the middle can be flexibly programmed as a "play
area" with various activities and main loops. The stacked
elements have more specific uses such as theaters, health areas,
food areas, zen areas, learning centers and exhibition halls,
fitness and activity centers, health centers, and administrative
areas. The theater is very flexible and can be used in different
stages and audiences; in addition, its large windows allow it to be
used as an amphitheatre, and the public can stay in the garden.
The building is a true multifunctional public center, attracting
many users [10].
Sustainability is also an essential element in design. This level
will be achieved through some unique natural ventilation design,
a larger temperature range in the game area, solar panels on the
roof and high-performance glass.
Figure 1. Sunset Community Center Elevation [7]
Figure 2. Women Opportunity Center [9]
Journal of critical reviews
Figure 3. House of Culture and Movement Frederiksberg [10]
SPACE PROGRAM
This section outlines the facilities and programmatic functions of
women complex. The program is divided into two categories:
buildable and unbuildable areas. In this project the buildable
area will include the four zones are enhancement zone, health
and beauty zone, health educational zone and main zone. The
unbuildable area will include the parking area, landscape and
outdoor facilities. Table 1 demonstrates the space program of
this project.
Table 1. Space program
Zone Number Total Area
of floors (m2)
Achievement zone 2 2034
Education zone 3 6418
Health and care zone 3 5000
Outdoor facilities 2970
Total (Buildable and 18200
unbuildable area)
Gross Floor Area (GFA) 50000
Net Area 14586
Women's complex is a health, learning and social facility
designed to make people understand more knowledge, enhance
self-awareness and interact with others. It may be a for-profit
commercial organization, or it may be a center supported by a
community or institution. A successful facility will accommodate
those who want to upgrade and change themselves in their lives,
as well as covered of leisure and entertainment. Provide learning
zone can reduce the literacy and gaps in pregnancy information.
In addition, having workshops to increase handicrafts can be a as
first step to help women in order to have or organized their small
business because the purpose of gallery or exhibition is to let
people from outside to know about their talent and to be as a
marketing for them. Women complex may also accommodate
activities help our lifestyle to be healthier Such as runways,
swimming pools and sports fields. In terms of social component,
outdoor facilities are an important secondary function of
women's comprehensive facilities. It will encourage social
interaction because it will become a gathering point for
comprehensive facilities. These facilities include juice or snack
bars, sports auditoriums, amphitheaters and outdoor truck
spaces. All of these outdoor functions will have a pleasant view
with landscape and fountain.
Architectural considerations are that informality can be
conveyed through various unstructured open spaces, in which
spontaneous activities can occur, and these activities can be used
to view organized group activities. Additional, the use of narrow
corridors, static and fixed spaces, and institutional colour
schemes should be avoided in both architectural and interior
design schemes. The complex physical design should have a
711
 WOMEN COMPLEX

feminine contemporary aesthetic to complement the complex

main users.

Regarding functionality, the design must increase user

awareness of on-going activities in order to provide them with a
good environment. Promote social interaction between users and
establish a coherent plan so that users can circulate freely
throughout the building. The normally used circulation space
should be regarded as the transition space, from which the
activity when passing through the complex can be observed. This
transition space should be designed with a small open lounge so
that informal groups can get together while waiting for the event
to start or the room to be vacated.

SITE SELECTION AND ANALYSIS

Figure 4 shows site 1 is located at the Cornish Road close on AL
Zahra Mosque. The site is located in an area that people often
visit but is not very crowded all the time. In addition, the
government plans to restore this area to encourage the public to
visit the Holy Spirit Women’s Union. Furthermore, the ocean will Figure 6. Site 2 [13]
be an advantage both visually and functionally. Site 2 is shown in
Figure 5; this site is considering an accessible site from Prince The site evaluation of this study considered several aspects
Sultan Rd also its connected with King Road from different namely site capacity, shape/ proportional, topography,
branch road. Moreover it’s surrounded by different type of accessibility, noise level, utilities, security and safety,
buildings such as commercial, residential, restaurants and health image/visual quality, visibility, future development plans,
care. Therefore it’s an area that visited by people which consider surroundings and views. The score of each aspect is defined as 1
a valuable location. Site 3 in Figure 6 is located in King Road near to 10, where 1 is the worse and 10 is the best. The side
to Stars Avenue, this location consider as a centralized point for evaluation result is shown in Table 2.
all women in all direction. In addition, it’s a commercial and an
active area. Table 2. Site evaluation
Criteria Site Site Site 3
1 2
Site Capacity 7 8 10
Shape/ Proportional 5 10 10
Topography 4 8 9
Accessibility 3 8 9
Noise level 3 8 9
Utilities 7 8 9.5
Security and Safety 5 7 8
Image/Visual Quality 6 6.5 7
Visibility 6 8 8
Future Development Plans 7 8 9
Surroundings 7 8 8
Views 7 6 8
Figure 4. Site 1 [11]
Total 67 93.5 104.5

Based on the side evaluation result shown in Table 2, Site 3 is

chosen as the site location for the project as score the highest
compare to others site. Figure 7 shows the site climate analysis.
The average high temperature of this site is range between 29°C
to 37°C. The average low temperature of this site is range
between 18°C to 27°C. The rainfall is high during November,
December and January about 25mm, 31mm and 5 mm
respectively.

Also, the humility of this site is about 52% to 63% throughout

the year. The site problem and constraints is shown in Figure 8
where the area is surrounded by residential area. The unpleasant
wind may consider as critical point but the residential area can
block this bad wind. The main entrance is facing the main road.
Therefore, the design should be attractive to attract the visitors.

Figure 5. Site 2 [12]

Journal of critical reviews 712

 WOMEN COMPLEX

Figure 7. Site climate analysis

Figure 10. Final site zoning

The main Entrance in Figure 11 shows the achievement center

and the theatre where men can only enter this zone from outside.
Figure 12 shows the perspective of the education building. Since
the project users is mainly for females sector therefore, the site
plan can reflect the “softens” of women’s and the easy movement
by using the organic forms. Moreover, both safety and privacy
are taking into consideration by having a wall around the site.
The main perspective of the project is shown in Figure 13.

The main idea of the project is to inspire women and teach them
how to make better choices in life. The principles followed are
well known to many civilizations, including Muslim civilizations;
"a healthy body houses a healthy mind".

Some people say that "health is wealth", which is an important

Figure 8. Site Problems and Constraints
factor for people to obtain other opportunities, and "knowledge
is light", which will become the light that guides us through dark
ZONING AND PROJECT DESIGN
spaces to achieve our goals. This is why the "Spiritual Women's
Figure 9 and Figure 10 demonstrate the zoning distribution
Complex" will provide an active environment to diversify the
diagram and final site zoning of the project. The main entrance is
activities of income earners and give them a better future in
facing to the main road, while the outdoor facility zone is located
education and skills development. It will be an environment that
in the center between the health center and education zone.
reflects flexible movement, lightness, purity and freshness
through natural elements such as greenery and water.

Figure 11. Main entrance

Figure 9. Zoning distribution diagram

Journal of critical reviews 713

 WOMEN COMPLEX
4.
5.
6.
7.
Figure 12. Education building
8.
9.
10.
11.
Figure 13. Main perspective of the project
CONCLUSION
This project highlight that women should educate themselves on
all aspects of life therefore, a central gathering space for women’s
will provide to give them the opportunities to be more
knowledgeable at the same time they can use their free time in 12.
useful way by providing various of physical activities and
improve the quality of social life and meet their basic needs in
order to minimize the unemployed problems. The primary zones
that considered in this project are achievement zone, education
zone, health and care zone as well as outdoor facilities zone. Site
3 is chosen as the site location based on the site evaluation result. 13.
This location consider as a centralized point for all women in all
direction. This project provide an opportunities for broad range
of educationally, socially, recreationally and physical wellness
programs. In addition, the ultimate objective of this project is to
encourage women’s self-worth to let them move one step
forward in society.
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